Amgen bike race's Monterey plan is news to city

Peter Sagan of Slovakia, far left, sprints across the finish line to win the Fifth Stage of Amgen Tour of California in Paso Robles, Calif. on Thursday May 19, 2011. The stage started in Seaside, Calif. (Photo By David Royal/ Monterey County Herald)

The Amgen Tour of California said Tuesday it will return to Monterey in 2014 for the first time in eight years — much to the surprise of the city.

Anne McGrath, a spokeswoman for the city, said the city didn't put in any application to be a part of the cycling race.

"We have not been contacted at all by anyone from (the tour) about this. ... This is the first that the city has heard of it," she said.

The fourth leg of the race is scheduled to start in Monterey on May 14. While the specific course won't be unveiled until later, it appears the riders will head south on Highway 1 through Big Sur until reaching the leg's terminus in Cambria on a 100-mile stage.

John David Van Kirk, communications coordinator for the Monterey County Convention & Visitors Bureau, said race organizers contacted the bureau about returning to Monterey.

"They came to us asking if we were interested in participating," Van Kirk said. "We let them know that we had no dollar amount or personnel that we could put towards it and they basically came back saying that they are very interested in coming here and they would work with us and the city to cover the financial burden of it."

Lt. Leslie Sonne, a Monterey police spokeswoman, said a lot of time and money went into planning for the event when it previously went through Monterey in February 2006.

"The last time it was here, there was a significant amount of staff time having to be spent planning it for a very little amount of time that they were actually in the city and an extremely high personnel bill for having to do all of the (road) closures and such," Sonne said. "Unfortunately, we're not sure why they didn't make any contact with the city before advertising it, but we certainly need to have an internal city discussion to see if we would even start the process with them to discuss having it here."

The event, which bills itself as America's most successful cycling race, last visited the Peninsula in 2011 when Seaside was a host city. The stage also went through Del Rey Oaks and Carmel Valley en route to Paso Robles. Seaside declined bringing the race back for financial reasons.

McGrath said Monterey has also declined opportunities to participate in recent years.

Van Kirk said the visitors bureau has helped out by sending photos and logos, but it is up to the race officials to coordinate the event with the host cities.

"I kind of heard the buzz that the city was a little off guard and that some people have been throwing around the fact that we would be helping to fit the bill as usual for a host city and that is not at all what's happening here," Van Kirk said.

Sonne said groups frequently schedule events for Monterey without contacting the city beforehand.

"Monterey obviously is a very desirable place for people to bring events and we certainly encourage promoters to reach out to the city and determine what process needs to be followed before advertising that they're coming here," she said, adding that it would make things much smoother if city officials were contacted ahead of time.

Race officials did not respond to a request for comment.

The race is scheduled to start in Sacramento on May 11 before heading to host sites Folsom, Mt. Diablo State Park, San Jose, Monterey, Cambria, Pismo Beach, Santa Barbara, Mountain High, Santa Clarita, Pasadena and the overall finish May 18 in Thousand Oaks.